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Updated at 6:08 a.m., Sunday, July 20, 2008

Tennis: Del Potro wins Kitzbuehel for 2nd straight title

Associated Press

KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Juan Martin del Potro won his second straight ATP Tour title Sunday by defeating Austria's Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-1 in the clay-court final of the last Austrian Open.

Del Potro, a 19-year-old Argentine won last week, in Stuttgart, Germany.

"These were two great weeks for me, really unbelievable," he said. "I can only dream that I will be able to play on at this level."

Melzer was playing in his first final of the year. He is 1-6 in finals, winning only in Bucharest, Romania, in 2006.

"Everything went wrong today and he was just too good," said Melzer, who needed treatment on his left ankle between sets. "It was a great tournament anyway, as I'd never reached the final here before."

This was the 63rd edition of the tournament, which is not on the ATP calendar next year.

Del Potro is the fifth Argentine to win at Kitzbuehel in the last six years, after Guillermo Coria (2003), Gaston Gaudio ('05), Agustin Calleri ('06) and Juan Monaco ('07), who withdrew this year because of injury.

Del Potro dominated with strong serves and attacking baseline play. He faced one break point in his opening service game and conceded just three more points on serve during the rest of the first set. He didn't drop a single point while serving in the second.

At 2-0 and 40-15 down in the second set, Melzer broke his racket by smashing it several times on the court. He then won the next four points, but finally lost after he double-faulted on Del Potro's second match point.